The Drunken Samaritan

 

The Good Samaritan Vincent Van Gogh

 

I think drinking and driving is one of the most selfish and reprehensible acts possible. Every time I hear of someone crashing into an innocent victim because he or she is drunk my blood boils. I confess I'm not much better when it comes to smokers, particularly when they feel they have a right to inflict second-hand smoke on others.

So along comes a story like this one, the lesser-known parable of the Drunken Samaritan:

A Nova Scotia man has beat a drunk driving charge using the defence of necessity after he argued he had no choice but to drive an injured friend to the hospital last year. According to an Amherst provincial court decision released on Tuesday, Roger Pleau and friend Eldon Deegan were drinking beer at Deegan's apartment in Upper Nappan on Oct. 4, 2012, while their wives went to bingo in Amherst.They weren't allowed to smoke in the apartment, so Pleau and Deegan went outside for a cigarette. The apartment was on the second floor of a complex and Deegan stumbled down the stairs, gashing his scalp on an iron rail and sustaining a concussion. The men were locked out of the apartment building and both keys for the building — the main and the spare — were with their wives. Neither man had a cellphone. Deegan was incoherent and having difficulty breathing. Pleau, 54, from Maccan, panicked and drove his friend to the local hospital, according to court documents. At the hospital, the nurse noticed Pleau appeared drunk so she called police. Pleau was found to have blood alcohol readings of 110 and 100 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

Amazingly, the judge let the drunk driver off, even though he scolded the accused for smoking and told him that the decision was not condoning DUI. I find this intriguing. The judge decided there was a higher good which permitted this violation of the law.

We hear about other instances where bus drivers are punished and for going off a route to help someone, or a Walmart worker who is fired for rescuing a dog locked in a car on a hot day. It makes us indignant and often the reports appeal to Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan, a parable found only in Luke. Then there are states in the US which have Good Samaritan laws which have made it illegal not to respond to those in distress.

Is it okay to break the rules or even the law in order to do "the right thing?" What are the limits to that spirit? Do you agree with the judge's ruling?